The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Senator Buruji Kashamu has rejected the purported constitution of another PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDP PCO) for the state allegedly under the Chairmanship of a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Oladipupo Adebutu.
He described the composition of the new body as fake. In a statement he issued on Wednesday in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, Kashamu, who is the Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District at the Senate, said the authentic PDP PCO, which he heads as the Chairman, was inaugurated by the lawful Engr. Adebayo Dayo-led State Executive of the PDP on the 28th of November, 2018.
He said his choice as the Chairman of the PDP PCO in Ogun State was informed by the fact that he is the party’s governorship candidate with a solid structure and functional offices across the state.
The statement reads in part: “The purported inauguration of another PDP PCO by the dissident group within the Ogun State PDP is most unfortunate. One is surprised that this is coming at a time well-meaning stakeholders are preaching reconciliation, peace and unity.
“As a lawmaker, he should not portray himself as a lawbreaker. The only PDP Chairman known to the law and major stakeholders within the Ogun State PDP is Engr. Adebayo Dayo.
“Engr. Dayo, as the State Chairman of the PDP, presided over the State Congress where the governorship candidate of our party was elected in line with Section 25(1) of the Peoples Democratic Party Constitution 2017 (as amended) which states: ‘There shall be a State Party Congress which shall consist of: The State Chairman who shall be the Chairman. “Section 25(2C) states further: ‘The function of the State Congress shall be to: (c) Elect Governorship candidates of the Party’, among others.”
“Having emerged in line with the provisions of the Constitution of our great party, I am the governorship candidate known to the party, the law and INEC. It was in line with the decisions and guidelines released by the party that the governorship candidates should head the PDP PCO in their respective states that the party stakeholders chose me to lead the campaign in Ogun State.
“So, any other person parading himself as the Chairman of the PDP PCO in Ogun State is an impostor and should be ignored.”
Kashamu urged the security agencies and the national leadership of the party to call Adebutu to order before his importunate actions plunge the party and state into unnecessary chaos and crisis.
He noted that the national leadership of the party should be “a father-to-all wherever there is a dispute between contending groups or forces within the party and not take sides with one against the other since we are all members of the same family.
“But, even as members of the same family, we have our right to life and to live. The father cannot attempt to kill one child for the other and expect that the child will not fight for its life or assume that the law will not take its course if the child is killed by the father. That is why we say the supreme power of the party is not absolute,” Kashamu added.